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| trash from the N. Pacific Gyre |
Yes, its anecdotal but so was evidence of climate change before scientists
"the ocean was dead". began to computer model what people were observing in Nature. An Australian yachtsman back from a 23,000 mile voyage around the Pacific, Ivan MacFadyen, says that between Melbourne and Osaka, Japan he witnessed shocking amounts of rubbish floating in the Pacific and an equally shocking lack of fish. MacFadyen made the same trip ten years ago and he caught fish every day. The barren waters started at the edge of the Great Barrier Reef and by the time he reached Japan he concludedOverfishing and uncontrolled by-catch in the relentless search for target species is responsible. A passing fishing vessel offered him a bag of containing
100 large fish which the fishermen considered disposable because it did contain any tuna. Experts think that overfishing is a global problem affecting 90% of the world's fisheries. The Australian Marine Conservation Society places 26 species on a "red list" consumers should avoid because of their fragile state in Nature. Australia has made some improvements in its fisheries policy, but just increased the bluefin tuna quota by 10% without any biological evidence to increase it.
MacFadyen estimates 7,000 of his voyage was in garbage so thick he would not motor at night for fear of damaging his propeller. During the day a lookout was posted to avoid collisions. Despite these precautions he still had to un-foul his prop at night, risking haul damage. Some floating rubbish clumps were as large as a house. Other debris were below the surface, but close enough to prove a hazard to navigation. Undoubtably, some of the floating debris he encountered are from the 2011 tsunami that inundated the coast of northeastern Japan.
(perhaps as much as 25 million tons of debris) MacFadyen said the horrible condition of the ocean "made him very
cranky". Plastic concentrations in the North Pacific Gyre have increased two orders of magnitude or 100 time worse since measurements were first made in 1972. MacFayden termed humans a "blight on the planet".
Some humans are trying to do something about the huge amounts of trash collecting in the world's ocean gyres (two in the Atlantic, one in the Indian ocean and two in the Pacific). A young aerospace engineering student from the Netherlands has conceptualized an array of ocean booms and collectors that utilizes the oceans' own circular currents to collect and trap debris
[computer simulation by Fabrique Computer Graphics]. Boyan Slat thinks his ocean-going garbage can idea will clean one third of the ocean surface within five years using only solar power and ocean currents. The collection station is anchored to the ocean bottom outside of traffic lanes, so it could be declared an artificial island under the Law of the Sea, but it will have no emssions The idea is undergoing a feasibility study at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
